


Haptikos

by R_Knight



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: (only Andre though), Alternate Universe - Not Hockey Player(s), Cuddling & Snuggling, Gen, Multi, Platonic Cuddling, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 15:55:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15440526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_Knight/pseuds/R_Knight
Summary: “He’s basically a therapy dog.”“A therapy…dog?” Alex asks, eyeing the representative that’s been bought in to talk to them.“Other teams have shown increased morale, less anxiety, and even an easier time healing injuries with this program. Your GM has volunteered you guys to take part in the trial program, and I’m confident you’ll find you’ll enjoy it,” she tells the group. Alex still doesn’t understand why they can’t just get an actual therapy dog.





	Haptikos

“He’s basically a therapy dog.”

“A therapy…dog?” Alex asks, eyeing the representative that’s been bought in to talk to them.

“Other teams have shown increased morale, less anxiety, and even an easier time healing injuries with this program. Your GM has volunteered you guys to take part in the trial program, and I’m confident you’ll find you’ll enjoy it,” she tells the group. Alex still doesn’t understand why they can’t just get an actual therapy dog. Nicke is apparently on the same wavelength, because he pauses in stripping his gear, giving her his full attention.

“Why not just get a therapy dog?” Nicke asks her. She looks entirely unsurprised by the question, shuffling the papers she has in her hands and nodding decisively.

“A number of reasons really. Dog’s require more vigorous training, they require more care and time than a person would, and generally speaking, a lot more attention outside of what you guys need from them compared to a person.” She pauses for a second, then actually rolls her eyes. “That’s generally speaking. I think you’ll find that the Friend we’ve assigned to you guys is, ah – you know what, we’ll cover that when it comes to it. Are there any more questions?”

There are. They spend a good hour grilling her about the process, of what’s expected of them and how much interaction is required, what the rules are and where their Friend will live and on and on, until they seem to run out of questions. Then the representative hands out the leaflets she’d been holding whilst talking to them.

“So these are just a little introduction to the Friend that has been assigned to you guys. His name is Andre, and he played hockey as a teenager before injuring his leg, so he has some experience of the pressures you guys experience. He’s currently studying part time, so his schedule should line up pretty nicely with you guys. Now if there’s no more questions, I’ll go fetch Andre so you can all meet him.”

When no one asks anything else, she tucks the spare leaflets away in her purse and disappears from the locker room. There’s an awkward silence that lingers while they all stare at the little leaflets they’ve been given, with a picture of Andre, his name and age, dislikes and likes, what he specialises in and so on.

“He’s cute,” TJ offers up finally, smiling a little when Alex looks over at him. “And we’re _completely_ sure this isn’t an escort service, right?” That breaks the silence pretty effectively, and they spend the next while discussing the little notes on the leaflet, questioning what could have made him sign up to the service.

*

It’s weird. Of course it’s weird, they have what amounts to an adult man masquerading as a therapy dog – no matter what the representative from _Therapy Friends_ tried to tell them otherwise – except 6’3 and with, if Alex is honest, a greatly oversold need for independence. It’s not that Therapy Friends are out of the ordinary, because these days plenty of work places and other team sports employ them, but individually as a team, the caps have no previous experience of anything like this, and it’s off-putting.

Alex is glad that it’s preseason, because he’s not sure how the whole thing would mess with their game mid-season. Though he supposes that’s the point, that by the time they get to serious hockey games, they will have gotten comfortable with Andre enough that if he isn’t helping them, then at least he’s at least not hindering.

He meets them the first day with a happy grin and the joyous ease of someone who likes to be the center of attention, introducing himself to each of the caps with a variety of hugs and arm pats or hand-shakes, in Nicke’s case, because there’s no way Nicke’s getting physically friendly with someone he doesn’t know yet.

In the end, it takes maybe a day before they’re comfortable with Andre, and another few before he’s joking and teasing like he’s part of the team.

It’s weird, because it’s really, really _not_ weird. Alex expected to find the sort of forced-friendship scenario they’ve been put in to make it difficult to be comfortable around Andre, or at least comfortable enough to forget that he’s being paid to do this, but somehow within the month Andre worms his way into the group with a practiced ease, and when the representative lady from _Therapy Friends_ visits to check how Andre’s settled in, it’s honestly a little embarrassing how excited she is by their ‘unprecedented’ progress.

“Really, this is wonderful. We weren’t sure if the levels of physicality Andre employs would fit in with a sports team, but he seems to be such a good fit with you all,” she says happily, packing away her things, “Really – I’ve never seen such a quick settle before. And you feel this is a good place for you Andre? That you’re doing well here yourself? It’s not just about the team, remember.”

Alex gets that she needs to ask the question, but since she has to look down at Willy’s lap to do so, where Andre is still half asleep after getting an impromptu head massage, it’s a little redundant. It takes him a second, but after stretching, cat-like, and rolling over to face her, Andre offers up a content smile.

“I think we’re working well together,” he tells her, looking a little smug when everybody laughs – it’s a hell of an understatement. She must find the answer satisfactory, because she doesn’t ask any further questions. She tells them she’ll be back for one last check-in in six months, and then she’s gone.

“So does that mean we get to keep him?” Tom asks, fingers going back into Andre’s hair now that they’re not required to at least pretend to pay attention.

“Yup,” Alex says, reaching down to pat Andre’s stomach affectionately, “You here for good.”

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this with innocent intentions after hearing the phrase 'six foot three therapy twink' too many times, but realised 900 words in that it was kind of weird and horny and also had nowhere to go unless I felt like writing an orgy. So I'm just throwing it out there to rid myself of that impulse while I have other things to do.


End file.
